


Life's Funny That Way (ON HIATUS UNTIL 2018)

by edith681



Category: Original Work
Genre: Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-10-24 17:37:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10746561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edith681/pseuds/edith681
Summary: Leigh and Ashlynn have always been best friends. They even share a birthday. Everything is going great, until Leigh's life is forever changed by three life-changing words.





	1. One

It all started when Leigh and Ashlynn were 16 and a half years old. Their birthdays were always celebrated as one big combined birthday since both their birthdays were on the exact same day: July 13, 1997.

Leigh and Ashlynn had been next door best friends for their entire life. Since the day they were born. Actually, to be precise, since five days before they both turned six. They met over the summer, five days before their sixth birthdays. They both celebrated their birthdays. When it was time to go back to school, they were put in the same classroom, and even had assigned seats.

Soon, Ashlynn and Leigh had become best friends, and were hanging out every single day. Except Sundays, because even the best of best friends need a break from each other.

It all started exactly 6 months before their birthdays, on January 13. The second semester of high school had started. Leigh's outdoor pool was now closed, and ice cream was replaced with hot chocolate. Everything seemed to be going great. That was, until Leigh's parents told her the news.

 

***

 

Honk, honk!

The honk of a car horn came from downstairs. Leigh woke with a start, realizing that she was late. Her dad must have already left for work, and her mom had probably figured Leigh was getting ready up in her room. She rushed to get dressed, grabbing her purse, backpack, hat, and skateboard. She ran downstairs, grabbing a piece of toast off her mother's plate as she ran by.

"Bye, Mom!" she called.

"Leigh," her mother said, making Leigh stop in her tracks.

"Yes, Mom?" asked Leigh, hand on the doorknob, she turned around and looked at her mother.

"Come home right after school," she said. "Your father and I have something important we want to discuss with you."

"Okay, mom."

Then she left, closing the door behind her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"There you are," said Ashlynn, Leigh's best friend. She started driving away as Leigh fumbled with her seatbelt.

"What happened?" asked Ashlynn. "That took longer than usual. And you better not get any of that toast in my car."

"Sorry. I slept in. Your car horn honking was my wake up call."

"Don't you have an alarm clock?"

Leigh swallowed her bite of toast. "I guess the batteries ran out."

"Anyway, you should come over to my house after school. I just got a new video game."

Leigh sighed. "I'd love to, but I can't. My mom says she has something important she wants to discuss with me."

Ashlynn frowned. "Uh-oh."

"What's uh-oh?"

"She really said that?"

Leigh nodded.

"Nothing good ever comes from those words. The last time my mom said she had something important she wanted to discuss with me, Sadie was born eight months later."

"Oh, no. You don't think my mom is...pregnant?! Do you?"

"That would be bad. Especially for you."

Leigh shivered. "I know. I just...I'm not a fan of little kids. Is there something wrong with me?"

"Of course not, Leigh. There are lots of people who can't stand little kids."

"Well, I wouldn't go that far."

Ashlynn parked in front of the school.

"Look, maybe she's not pregnant."

Leigh swallowed audibly. "You're right. It could be any number of terrible things. Somebody could be terribly sick or hurt. Someone could've died! Or maybe someone I really care about doesn't care about me anymore. It could be something really horrifying!"

Ashlynn started laughing. "You know what's _really_ horrifying? Your fashion choice. Are you wearing your pajama bottoms?"

"Ashlynn! This is _serious_ _!_ And yes, I am."

"Look, try not to worry about it too much. I'll do the worrying, okay?"

"I don't want you to worry."

"Here, you need a hug." The girls hugged each other. Then a bell rang.

"Oh, second bell!" Ashlynn handed Leigh her bag. "Go, go, go!"

Leigh hurried off to class.

"Try not to worry too much!" Ashlynn called after her.

 _Oh_ _,_ _I_ _hope_ _she_ _doesn't_ _worry_ _too_ _much_ _,_ thought Ashlynn.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since Leigh sat in the back of pretty much all of her classes, it was relatively easy for her to pretend to be paying attention, but really be doodling or doing other things. In period 1, she texted Ashlynn several times, and Ashlynn texted her back only once, telling her not to worry, and that they would talk later. Leigh didn't text Ashlynn again that day. She didn't want to distract her friend from her schoolwork. She knew Ashlynn worked very hard to keep her grades up.

She kept doodling pictures throughout the day; pictures of what her mother might look like pregnant, pictures of what the new baby might look like, pictures of funerals for loved ones, with her and Ashlynn in front of the casket, holding each other and crying.

Eventually, lunchtime came. Leigh bought some fries and a cookie, but she hardly ate anything. Leigh and Ashlynn didn't share a lunch period, so she couldn't even talk to her best friend during her lunch hour.

Leigh spent most of her lunch period drawing more pictures, from animals to real-life situations she feared would happen. She skipped all her afternoon classes, instead hiding under the stairs and finishing off Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, one of her favorite books. Often, when Leigh was worried or upset about something, she would sit and read a book, effectively escaping reality for a few hours. She had tried writing books before, but she could never seem to come up with a good idea and then stick with it. She just wasn't the fiction-writing type.

Finally the 3:00 bell rang. Leigh took her skateboard out of her locker and waited, leaning against her locker for several minutes, waiting for Ashlynn. Then a new text popped up on her phone. It was from Ashlynn.

 _Detention_ _. 30_ _minutes_ _._ _Talk_ _later_ _._ _Meet_ _at_ _my_ _house_ _._

Leigh laughed. Just her luck, that Ashlynn having a detention-a rare occurrence in and of itself-would happen on a day like this. Leigh growled, not at Ashlynn, but at the teacher who gave her detention.

Leigh took her skateboard home. She only lived about a 20 minute walk away from her high school, so it wasn't so bad. Besides, Ashlynn's 30 minute detention had dwindled to ten by the time she got home, so by the time her parents and her talked about whatever it was they needed to talk about, Ashlynn would probably be home.

Leigh took a deep breath before she put her key in the door. She slowly unlocked it and went inside.

Her parents were already sitting on the couch. They looked worried.

"Is everything okay?" asked her father. "Did you get a ride from Ashlynn?"

"She has detention, so I had to ride my skateboard home." She eyed her mother suspiciously. "Mom, are you pregnant?"

"No, honey, I'm not," her mother said, punctuating her reply with a laugh.

"Oh, thank God!" Leigh took a huge breath out and sank into the couch.

Her parents laughed. "How long have you been holding that in?"

Leigh was laughing hard. "All day. So what's up? First off, is it good news or bad news? I mean, by my standards."

"By your standards?" Her parents exchanged a look. "Let's just say, it's neutral news."

"Uh-oh." Leigh sat up quickly and leaned forward.

"Leigh." Her parents exchanged a nervous glance.

Her mother took a deep breath. "Leigh, I can't have children. Which is why we adopted you, honey."


	2. Two

Leigh looked at her parents for a long moment. Slowly a huge smile spread across her face. Then she started laughing like crazy.

"You guys almost had me there!" she cried through her laughter. "Oh, man, that's a good one!" She grabbed her stomach. "You too are _hilarious_ _!"_

Her mother and father exchanged a knowing look, as if they knew this would happen. In the Riffwood household, pretty much every day was April Fool's day. The family was constantly playing pranks on each other. Just the other day, Leigh's father had been taking a nap on the couch, and he was a deep sleeper. Leigh had squirted whipped cream into his right hand, and Ashlynn had reached over the back of the couch and tickled his nose with a feather. Leigh's father had slapped himself in the face, and woke up immediately. With a face full of whipped cream, he had chased his daughter down the hall, only to find her in the bathroom, shower head aimed right at him.

"Here, let me wash that off," she had said, and before Richard Riffwood could protest, he was being sprayed with water.

The whole family was always cooking up new pranks to hit each other with, and Leigh even had her own pranking kit.

But this time it was serious. Leigh eventually stopped laughing when she realized that her parents were not joining in.

"What's wrong? You guys are really quiet." A look of many different emotions came over Leigh as she realized what was going on. "Wait, you-you guys are...serious. Aren't you?"

Her parents smiled. "We wanted to wait until we thought you were old and mature enough to handle this information," said her father. "So, what do you think?"

Leigh looked thoughtful. Then she slowly stood up. She was silent for a long moment and then her eyes grew angry and sad, and her breathing sped up. All she could think to say was,"What the fuck?!"

Tears started running down her cheeks. She wiped them away. Then she just walked out of the room and skateboarded over to Ashlynn's house. She didn't care if Ashlynn was home or not. She just couldn't stand to be in her house, and especially not around her "parents." She didn't know how much time she would need, but one thing was certain. She was definitely not going home that night.

000

Ashlynn's house was very full. She had two eight year old twin brothers, Sam and Max, a four year old sister named Sadie, and a 17 and a half year old brother named Tripp.

Her aunt had died about 10 years prior, leaving behind her enormous fortune of billions. Her family lived in a huge mansion that was up a path which was right across the street from Leigh's house. It was the only house on that side of the street, except for an abandoned house hidden in the forest that only Leigh and Ashlynn knew about. They went there many days after school, and spent as much time at the house as they spent in their own houses and school combined.

 

**NEU-on or before June 1**


End file.
